1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a connector port for use in an optical network, and more particularly, to a connector port adapted for a network interface device (NID) to receive a connectorized optical fiber from inside the NID and a pre-connectorized fiber optic drop cable from outside the NID.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical fiber is increasingly being used for a variety of broadband applications including voice, video and data transmissions. As a result of the ever-increasing demand for broadband communications, fiber optic networks typically include a large number of mid-span access locations at which one or more optical fibers are branched from a distribution cable. These mid-span access locations provide a branch point from the distribution cable leading to an end user, commonly referred to as a subscriber, and thus, may be used to extend an “all optical” communications network closer to the subscriber. In this regard, fiber optic networks are being developed that deliver “fiber-to-the-curb” (FTTC), “fiber-to-the-business” (FTTB), “fiber-to-the-home” (FTTH), or “fiber-to-the-premises” (FTTP), referred to generically as “FTTx.” Based on the rapid proliferation of these fiber optic networks, it is desirable to provide communications hardware and equipment operable for readily connecting a subscriber to the fiber optic network.
With an FTTx optical network, subscribers may purchase different voice, video and data communication services from a single service provider, such as a telephone company, and equip their homes, businesses or the like with communications equipment, such as a telephone, television, facsimile machine, computer, etc., to utilize such services. The subscriber is responsible for proper operation of the subscriber's communications equipment and wiring, while the service provider is responsible for the proper operation of the optical network equipment and wiring up to the network interface, commonly referred to as the “demarcation point,” between the service provider wiring and the subscriber wiring. The demarcation point is accessible to both the subscriber and the service provider and is typically located at the subscriber premises in a network interface device (NID) or a building entrance terminal (BET) that is mounted on the exterior wall of a home, office, apartment, commercial or residential building, or the like.
To connect the subscriber to the optical network, one or more drop cables are optically connected between a distribution cable and the demarcation point in the NID at the subscriber premises. Substantial expertise and experience are required to configure the optical connections between the drop cable and the distribution cable, and between the drop cable and the subscriber wiring in the field. In particular, it is often difficult to enter the NID and to join the optical fibers of the drop cable with the optical fibers leading from the subscriber's communications equipment using conventional splicing techniques, such as fusion splicing. In other instances, the optical fibers of the drop cable are first spliced to a short length of optical fiber having an optical connector mounted upon the other end, referred to in the art as a “pigtail.” The pigtail is then routed to one side of a connector adapter sleeve located in the NID to interconnect the drop cable with a connectorized optical fiber leading from the subscriber's communications equipment. In either case, the process of entering the NID and fusion splicing optical fibers is not only time consuming, but frequently must be accomplished by a highly skilled field technician at significant cost and under working conditions in the field that are less than ideal. Further, once the optical connections are made, it is often labor intensive, and therefore costly, to disconnect or reconfigure the existing optical connections, or to make additional optical connections.
In order to reduce costs by permitting less experienced and less skilled technicians to connect, disconnect and reconfigure optical connections in the field, communications service providers are increasingly pre-engineering new fiber optic networks and demanding factory-prepared interconnection solutions, commonly referred to as “plug-and-play” type systems. Pre-engineered networks, however, require that certain optical fibers within the network be pre-connectorized and that optical connection terminals in the network be adapted to receive the pre-connectorized optical fibers, for example a pre-connectorized drop cable at a subscriber NID. With regard to a factory-prepared plug-and-play system for connecting a subscriber's communications equipment to an optical network at a demarcation point, it would be desirable to provide a connector port adapted for a NID to receive a connectorized optical fiber from inside the NID and a pre-connectorized fiber optic drop cable from outside the NID. It would also be desirable in an FTTx optical network to provide a NID having a connector port that is operable to readily interconnect a connectorized optical fiber from inside the NID with a feeder cable, branch cable or distribution cable of the optical network by means of a pre-connectorized fiber optic drop cable. It would also be desirable to provide a connector port and a NID for use in an FTTx optical network that permits a less experienced and less skilled field technician to readily connect, disconnect and reconfigure optical connections in the field.